Hitler continues to be their favourite leader whom they consider a Great Hindu.

Thackeray freely, openly, and often admitted his admiration for Hitler, his book, the Nazis, and their methods. In 1993, for example, he gave an interview to Time magazine. “There is nothing wrong,” he said then, “if [Indian] Muslims are treated as Jews were in Nazi Germany.” [Source]

And the effect is that ALMOST THROUGHOUT INDIA HITLER IS NOW MORE ADMIRED THAN GANDHI

My wife teaches French to tenth-grade students at a private school here in Mumbai. During one recent class, she asked these mostly upper-middle-class kids to complete the sentence “J'admire …” with the name of the historical figure they most admired. Of 25 students in the class, 9 picked Adolf Hitler, making him easily the highest vote-getter in this particular exercise; a certain Mohandas Gandhi was the choice of precisely one student. [Source]

I don't believe this is an exception.

As far back as 2002, the Times of Indiareported a survey that found that 17 percent of students in elite Indian colleges “favored Adolf Hitler as the kind of leader India ought to have.” [A poll of 400 students from the country's most prestigious colleges by a leading Indian newspaper in 2002 found that Hitler was their third most requested ideal leader of India, behind independence leader Mahatma Gandhi and the country's then-Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. – Source]

“The killing of Jews was not good,” said Dimple Kumari, a research associate in Pune. “But everybody has a positive and negative side.” [Source]

"Indian business students … dispassionately view the book as the diary of an extremely effective manager" [Source]

Indeed, Mein Kampf is now viewed as a management guide in India! [Source].

"Apparently this book is required reading for many management courses!" [Source]

" Hitler is not viewed as the personification of evil, but with an attitude of morally ambiguous fascination. He is seen as a management guru – akin to Machiavelli or Sun Tzu – by business students, and an object of wonder by people craving order amid the chaos of India." [Source]

"Tarun Singhal, a management student at New Delhi's prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, who first read the book as a young undergraduate, says for him the book is uplifting. "(It) serves as a reminder that nothing is unachievable," he said, adding that he is able to separate that message from the book's pervasive anti-Semitic ideology.[Source]

A pizza and cake chain in New Delhi, A Slice of Italy, sells a cake called "one for the Hitler," featuring Hitler's face. Last year the cake was sold with a swastika on the cap and was described as a children's cake over the phone. [Source]

HITLER NOW BEST SELLER IN INDIA

If Mein Kampf can sell 100,000+ copies – being a MAJOR BEST SELLER in India, today, then surely there is something going on. In India a book can sell 3000 copies and be classified as a best seller. This popularity of Hitler is HUGE – in a country where few people buy books.

""Mein Kampf" sells upward of 70,000 copies a year in India, a market where the informal benchmark for a bestseller is less than a tenth that number." [Source]

This means that Hitler's book will now be perhaps the only book in tens of thousands of households.

"The book, free of copyright in India, is printed by over half a dozen publishers. It is even a staple amid the small stack of top-selling books hawked by young boys at traffic lights in India's cities." [Source]

"India seems to have a fascination with Hitler. Walk into any bookstore and you’re sure to find a copy of Mein Kampf. This is always a bit of a shock for any Westerner. I took the photo below with my phone last week at my local bookstore. As you can see, several copies were available, in several different editions! Again, this is a book which is banned in several countries." [Source]

And remember, no one needs to actually buy this book. It is freely available on the internet. So actual copies read could be in the tens of lakhs. (In my own book's case, physical copies were a tiny fraction of the actual copies 'sold'/read).

But you'll note that my book is unable to pierce through the inertia in India – even though it talks about the greatness of India. My book talks about LIBERTY and EQUALITY of all humans in India. That is something the Hindu revivalists don't want. They are happy with socialism.

Vivek continues to talk really rough language about what can happen after Modi comes to power. I don't think he should be ignored. These are all clear warning signs.

A shop in Pune, called Teens, says it sells nearly 100 T-shirts a month with Hitler's image on them.

Prayag Thakkar, a 19-year-old student in Gujarat state, is one of them: "I have idolised Hitler ever since I have had a sense of history. I admire his leadership qualities and his discipline." [Source]

Hero Hitler in Love, a Punjabi comedy about a man with an explosive temper, and the Hindi film Gandhi to Hitler, a sympathetic portrait of the dictator’s last days (Gandhi once wrote to the Führer), came out last year. A soap opera, Hitler Didi—or “big sister Hitler”—is a hit. Bal Thackeray, the leader of a far-right Hindu party who recently died, professed admiration for Hitler. [Source]

"The Zee TV company apologized in 2011 after being criticized by the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League for naming a series about a dictatorial woman Hitler Didi (Hitler Sister). However, the title was changed for screening only in the U.S., while in India it remained unaltered." [Source]

Common use of Hitler in ads in India (see the ads as well, in the links here).

We ought to known the lay of the land. And in India, fascism is fast growing.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

In the main this is due to success of the "Hindu" revivalism which has managed to become mainstream, particularly because the Congress party has become the GREATEST ENEMY INDIA EVER HAD.

But also:

Unlike in some parts of Europe such as Russia and Austria, where Mein Kampf has been embraced by the extreme right, Hitler’s popularity in India is not the result of anti-Semitism, says Navras Jaat Aafreedi, a professor of social sciences at Gautam Buddha University in New Delhi. He says it stems from a dearth of European history classes in schools. To the extent that German history is taught, he says, it’s in the context of “the view that had Hitler not weakened the British Empire by the Second World War, the British would have never voluntarily left India.” [Source]

The following extract from the internet shows how terribly misled Gandhi himself was regarding Hitler.

On May 15, 1940, just five days after the horrific invasion of France began, Gandhi remarked on the Nazi führer’s conquest, saying: “I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and he seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed.” [3] This despite over 80,000 French who died in combat during the unprovoked invasion of their country.

On May 26, 1940, Gandhi wrote: “I do not believe Herr Hitler to be as bad as he is portrayed. He might even have been a friendly power as he may still be.” [4] He said this just two days before the Wormhoudt Massacre, a May 28, 1940 incident in which Nazi troops slaughtered 80 unarmed British and French prisoners of war.

Gandhi sent a lengthy letter directly to Adolf Hitler on December 24, 1940. His letter begins “Dear Friend,” which he explained, saying: “That I address you as a friend is no formality.” He then wrote: “We have no doubt about your bravery or devotion to your fatherland, nor do we believe that you are the monster described by your opponents.” [5]

During a 1947 interview with English author George Orwell, just two years after Hitler committed suicide, Gandhi further demonstrated a further shocking disregard for the brutality of the Nazi regime, saying:

“Hitler killed five million Jews…. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.” [6]

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11 thoughts on ““Hindu” revivalism is at a peak. Hitler is more admired than Gandhi. Mein Kampf is the best seller.”

“Hindus should not harbour anger in their hearts against Muslims even if the latter wanted to destroy them. Even if the Muslims want to kill us all we should face death bravely. If they established their rule after killing Hindus we should be ushering in a new world by sacrificing our lives. None should fear death. Birth and death are inevitable for every human being. Why should we then rejoice or grieve? If we die with a smile we shall enter into a new life, we shall be ushering in a new India. (Prayer meeting, April 6, 1947, New Delhi, CWMG Vol. 94, page 249) ”

I do NOT agree with Gandhi on everything, but I disagree with Hitler on virtually everything. One was a man trying to be good, whose goodness is the basis of the modern world. The other was evil at a level beyond description.

I don’t see the point of your grievance against Gandhi. To take one statement of his to judge him (that too, without understanding his entire background and philosophy) is surely a sign of poor scholarhip/understanding.

And kindly discuss issues, not me. I’ve already deleted a number of your comments. Stick to the point. I’ve got a very stern policy regarding commentators who don’t add value.

A lot of indians know the atrocities visited on the indian population by the british. The simplest explanation of Hitler’s popularity is “an enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine”. One should deny that WWII was the primary reason that the british left India, but no one can deny that it wasn’t a contributing factor.

You sir are either a congress made troll or someone who is completely ignorant about history..ppl admire hitler because overlooking mythical holocaust,he had greatest leadership skills..he bought revival in germany..if he was too evil,why entire germany was supporting hitler?

Secondly,unlike his contemporary Joseph Stalin of USSR,he didnt killed his own ppl by man made famine…and at that time everyone was at war,UK,USA,USSR..bt as churchill said “History is written by victors’their crimes went unnoticed

Thirdly,Hitler stand for its people and rights…and give me even one reason to believe that holocaust actually occured

China: “In China, Hitler isn’t known for the Holocaust, but rather for achieving social stability with a very high human cost. “In general, they refer to him as very lihai, very hardcore, someone who is strong, powerful,” said Rabbi Nussin Rodin, a Chabad representative in Beijing. “You can be strong and powerful and good, and strong and powerful and bad. It’s weird. I don’t know what to say.” With China’s regime facing growing internal criticism for mishandling any number of things, from the escalating price of fuel to train safety, Hitler’s perceived image as a strong leader who was able to maintain social stability makes him an attractive figure to many..”

Let all Holocausts be studied and not ignored… the value is in lessons learnt. But I am in broad agreement that the lessons may be much less about personalities like Hitler than about ideas/ideological conflict, zealotry, prevailing social structure and conditions, etc.

“Hindus should not harbour anger in their hearts against Muslims even if the latter wanted to destroy them. Even if the Muslims want to kill us all we should face death bravely. If they established their rule after killing Hindus we should be ushering in a new world by sacrificing our lives. None should fear death. Birth and death are inevitable for every human being. Why should we then rejoice or grieve? If we die with a smile we shall enter into a new life, we shall be ushering in a new India.”. (Prayer meeting, April 6, 1947, New Delhi, CWMG Vol. 94, page 249)

Gandhiji advised the women in East Bengal to commit suicide by poison or some other means to avoid dishonour. Yesterday he told the women to suffocate themselves or to bite their tongues to end their lives. But two doctors, BC Roy of Calcutta and Sushila Nayyar had informed him that such means of suicide were impossible. The only way known to medicine for instant self-immolation was a strong dose of poison. If this was so, he, the speaker, would advise everyone running the risk of dishonour to take poison before submission to dishonour. He had, however, heard from those given to yogic practices that it was possible by some yogic practice to end life. He would try and inquire. His was not an idle idea. He meant all he said.(Speech at a Prayer Meeting, New Delhi, October 18, 1946, CWMG Vol. 92, page 355)

Gandhi also called for Hindu wone to accept rape but do not demand that their men kill muslim rapists, THIS Deceptive creature is your hero.

Non-Indians on Freedom

"A man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master, they are the essence of a free economy, and on that freedom all our other freedoms depend" - Margaret Thatcher